WASHINGTON — With the U.S. House Oversight Committee set to hold the first hearing into the Flint water crisis Wednesday, a congressional staff member told the Free Press late Monday that former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley has declined to testify.

The report that Earley would decline to testify came Monday night. On Tuesday morning, Gov. Rick Snyder's office sent out a release saying Earley, who has been serving as emergency manager for the Detroit Public Schools, had notified the governor of his intent to leave the position effective Feb. 19, 2016.

In the release, the governor did not mention Earley's decision not to testify, which came from a congressional staffer who spoke anonymously because the committee hasn't made Earley's decision public. Neither a committee spokesperson nor Earley, who the Free Press tried to contact through Detroit Public Schools, responded to calls to confirm the report.

Earley was emergency manager in Flint in 2014 when the city switched its water supply from Lake Huron water to the Flint River as part of what was expected to be a temporary cost-cutting move.

High lead levels have been detected in Flint residents' taps in the wake of the switch. Earley was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to serve as Detroit Public Schools' emergency manager in Jan. 13, 2015.

The Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee formally announced the hearing last week, calling two EPA officials and the new head of Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality, Keith Creagh, but Democrats on the committee have complained that Snyder, who was not invited, should have been called to explain mistakes that led to the problem himself.

"At Wednesday’s hearing, we won’t hear from the governor, any of the emergency managers he appointed in Flint, or anyone else from the state who was involved in making decisions that led to this crisis," said U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. "Having such a one-sided hearing undermines the credibility of the committee and subjects the committee to accusations of partisanship."

Contact Todd Spangler at 703-854-8947 or at tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.